October 14-16, 2016

DeKoven Retreat Center, Racine, WI

Keynote: Dr. Kayta (Kathleen) Curzie Gajdos, author of Quiet Wisdom in Loud Times: The Rise of the Wounded Feminine.

In the fall of 2015, Kayta took a trip with Carol Christ, to Crete, where she visited many ancient Minoan goddess sites on mountaintops and in deep caves, and reclaimed them for the goddess through song and ritual. She met Karin Janowski and Pat Hyams, also on the trip. Karin and Kayta are intrepid hikers. Kayta and Pat formed "the choir" on the trip and taught chants to the other participants. The trip to Crete is an indelible memory for all of them.

Kayta is a psychologist who works with individuals, couples, and families. She has experience and training in the fields of alcohol and drug addictions, hypnosis, family therapy, Jungian theory, meditation and mindfulness, grief and trauma, EMDR, ETT, sandplay therapy, and dreamwork. Dr. Gajdos developed a practice in the Pittsburgh area, where she also wrote for the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic's Family Therapy Newsletter.

Dr. Gajdos has published in the American Psychological Association Bulletin, The Family Psychologist, and in the Swedenborgian publications, Chrysalis and The Messenger. Illness, Crisis and Loss has published her articles on intergenerational grief as well as on the compassion of Kathe Kollwitz and Mr. Rogers. She has taught at the graduate level at West Chester University and Wilmington University, and has supervised psychologists in training. Having served as field faculty for Vermont College of Norwich University and the Union Institute's Center for Distance Learning, she most recently served as external faculty for Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Living in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Dr. Gajdos has been a columnist for the Chadds Ford Post and the Kennett Paper. Now, her Mind Matters column appears online in Chadds Ford Live. In addition to her private practice, Dr. Gajdos facilitates a grief support group, SAM (Survivors of Accident and Murder) for the Mental Health Association in Delaware. Active in disaster relief with the Red Cross and Medical Reserve Corps, she is the Disaster Resource Network coordinator for the Delaware Psychological Association. She participated in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts as a member of teams from the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Dr. Gajdos holds Master's degrees in both philosophy and clinical psychology and received her Ph.D. in counseling at the University of Pittsburgh. Among her professional affiliations, she includes having been a founding member and board member of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Pittsburgh, as well as being listed in Who's Who of American Women. Woven into her professional career are Dr. Gajdos' pursuits of dancing, singing, and writing poetry. Her website address is: http://www.drgajdos.com

More details: www.uuwomensconnection.org